


Between Swigs of Conscription Ale

by kaijuburgers



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bisexual Male Character, F/M, Ficlet, Friends to Lovers, Possibly Unrequited Love, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:54:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27587762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaijuburgers/pseuds/kaijuburgers
Summary: Three months and five days after they had both been declared living Paragons, Duran realised he was in love with Natia.-A post-canon Two-Wardens AU mini-fic in which one of our dwarven heroes figures out they're in love.
Relationships: Male Aeducan/Female Brosca (Dragon Age)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 10
Collections: 2020 A Paragon of Their Kind Dragon Age Dwarf Exchange





	Between Swigs of Conscription Ale

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amarmeme](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amarmeme/gifts).



Three months and five days after they had both been declared living Paragons, Duran realised he was in love with Natia.

In all the romances that he had dug out of Orzammar’s palace library and devoured as a youth, realising you were in love was something unbelievably huge. It was the kind of things that noble alliances were shattered over, a single moment that changed the trajectory of two lives forever. Those books had made love seem a kind of madness, an unstoppable kind of force, and it had terrified him. But when he realised he was in love with Natia, it was nothing like that. The two of them were sat around a campfire taking swigs of conscription ale, and in the flickering lights of the flames it came to him, soft and gentle.

Duran wasn’t aware that his expression shifted but it must have, because Natia slowly turned her gaze from the fire to him. Maybe his smile had been a little wider, maybe something in his eyes had changed. Either way, she was looking at him and in the soft glow of the fire he couldn’t help but think she had never been more beautiful.

“What?” she said, and even a year-and-more after she’d found him lost and alone in the Deep Roads, her voice was still Duster-rough. Her hair was down, the soft red curls framing her face, and in that moment Duran couldn’t help but think about what it would be like to run his fingers through it. What it would be like to cup her cheek in the palm of his hand, how soft her face would feel compared to the battle hardened skin of his hands. Duran had kissed women before -- and men for that matter -- but he couldn’t imagine any of those experiences would be quite like kissing Natia.

“Nothing,” he said in reply, even though it wasn’t true, and something tender ached in his heart. He turned back to the fire, took another swig of conscription ale, and watched the firewood turn to ash.


End file.
